Deerfield couple guilty of overcharging Best Buy by $41 million

2 convicted by federal jury in Minnesota

A federal jury in Minnesota on Thursday convicted a Deerfield couple of defrauding retail giant Best Buy by overcharging about $41 million for computer parts.

Russell Cole once called his extravagant Deerfield home "the house that Best Buy built," according to court documents.

In November and December 2008, federal agents seized from the home a Ferrari coupe, a Lamborghini convertible and a collection of nine other luxury and high-performance vehicles worth about $2.8 million.

Prosecutors say the scheme centered on how a company called Chip Factory — with Cole as president and his wife, Abby, as owner — bid on supplying computer parts to Richfield, Minn.-based Best Buy, court records say.

Investigators say that from July 2003 to August 2007, Chip Factory submitted winning low bids to supply Best Buy with computer parts but later fraudulently charged the company a higher price.

"Greed is not a business virtue we value in Minnesota," U.S. Attorney B. Todd Jones said in a statement released after the verdict.

Russell Cole, 50, and Abby Cole, 53, were convicted after a 17-day trial. Each of them faces up to 20 years in prison.

Russell Cole, who said they will appeal, was convicted of 12 counts of mail fraud and other charges, said a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Minnesota.

Abby Cole was convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud and other charges.